Emerging technologies present new opportunities and risks to our society. For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) permits innumerable devices to connect and share data. This permits operations to be remotely monitored and may jeopardize the privacy of individuals. Also, artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology where intelligent machines and decision algorithms have been developed and refined with little public discussion, debate and oversight. Another emerging technology is the autonomous vehicle that relieves human drivers of countless decisions, but also creates dependence on inadequately vetted automatic actions. These technologies, and possibly more, provide significant opportunities for modernization while illuminating real ethical and legal challenges. Each raises security concerns highlighting the need for policy guidance. The paper is designed to explore the current state and direction of an emerging technology, to identify key security, legal and ethical issues, and to articulate and explain key principles that must be incorporated in policy to guide and protect our use of the technology. (Policy considerations also should address potential issuing authority.) The paper should contain: • A description of the technology , its benefits and its direction • A presentation of the security, legal and ethical issues involved with the technology • An exploration of what related policy exists, who is the best source for needed policy (government, industry, ?), high-level guidance/direction for what the policy should contain – to include identification of necessary basic principles. The author determines the structure of the paper. A Table of Contents (TOC) and section headings should improve the readability of the paper. An expectation is that about a third of the paper will address the technology, its benefits and issues, and at least a third will present policy recommendations. It is important to clearly identify the technology. For the purpose of this paper, an emerging technology is one that could have widespread impact, one that current policies fail to adequately address, and one that potentially changes business or society. The student may choose to address the Internet of Things (IoT), selecting a limited focus (home, medicine, etc.). The student may choose to explore autonomous or self-driving vehicles. The student may choose some facet of artificial intelligence or the use of algorithmic decision-making. The student may choose . . . It is strongly recommended that students provide a one-paragraph description of their paper focus, to mary.carroll@faculty.umgc.edu, no later than September 20.
